An international loan exhibition examines the life of the iconic priest and mission-era California

Every fourth-grader in California knows the name of Junípero Serra
(1713–1784), the Franciscan priest who oversaw the establishment of the
first nine missions in the state—missions that have been studied, and
meticulously reproduced in miniature, by generations of school children.
The Huntington goes beyond the textbook to paint a more complete and
complex portrait of Serra and his missionary work among Indians in the
comprehensive, international loan exhibition “Junípero Serra and the
Legacies of the California Missions.” The exhibition opens Aug. 17 in
the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art and continues
through Jan. 6, 2014.

Coinciding with the 300th anniversary of Serra’s birth, this unprecedented
exhibition features about 250 objects from The Huntington’s collections
and those of 61 lenders in the United States, Mexico, and Spain. Through
a display of rare documents, maps, artifacts, and works of art,
“Junípero Serra” provides a sweeping examination of Serra’s origins on
the Spanish island of Mallorca, where he was born; his years as a
missionary in Mexico; and his work to establish a system of missions
along the California coastline, beginning with Mission San Diego in
1769. The exhibition also provides the backdrop against which the
missions emerged, taking a closer look at the numerous groups of
culturally diverse Indians that populated early California. And it
examines the impact of Serra and the mission system on that native
population, offering a wide variety of contemporary perspectives on his
legacy.

“It’s a rich, complex, and multifaceted story, and one
that has not been told before in an exhibition of this magnitude,” says
co-curator Steven Hackel, associate professor of history at the University of California,
Riverside. “We present a picture that is equally rich in its portrayal
not only of Serra’s life but the meaning of the missions for a range of
California Indians.”

Catherine Gudis, associate professor of California and public history at the University
of California, River side, who co-curated the show with Hackel, points
out that narratives by descendants of the missions defy the usual
presumption that Native Americans hold a single view about the mission
past. “The show represents a range of responses—including resistance and
resilience—as the result of a period of painful disruption and
devastating change,” she says.

“The mission period was a defining one in California’s history, and Serra is the most visible
symbol of that period,” says Hackel. “But in taking this story all the
way through, it is, in fact, a story of conflicting, blending, and
overlapping cultures, of imperial expansion and human drama and loss,
and then, finally, of the perseverance and survival of not only European
institutions in California but of the California Indians who were the
focus of Serra’s missions.”

Wells Fargo is Presenting Corporate Sponsor of Junípero Serra and the Legacies of the California Missions.

Major exhibition support is provided by The Dan Murphy Foundation, The Milias Foundation, The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, The Steinmetz Foundation, Scott Jordan, and The Turicchi Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by Heather & Paul Haaga, The William H. Hannon Foundation, The Walter Lantz Foundation, The Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation, The Bill Hannon Foundation, The SahanDaywi Foundation, John & Dorothy Shea, and the United States-Mexico Cultural & Educational Foundation.

About The Huntington

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution established in 1919 by Henry E. and Arabella Huntington. Henry Huntington, a key figure in the...